Pinecrest Elementary School teacher Mia German blows a kiss to thank her students for being an inspiration during the 19th Golden Apple Teacher Recognition Celebration on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, Fla. Greg Kahn/Staff

NAPLES - Mia German says she won't go away quietly.

The former Collier County public school kindergarten teacher, a Golden Apple recipient in 2009, was denied a job by the Collier County School District in 2011.

The Immokalee kindergarten teacher was reapplying for the job she held when she won the Golden Apple, given annually to an elite few of the district's best teachers.

In between, she entered a doctoral program, and resigned her teaching job with the hope of becoming a school administrator. Initially, her application for rehire was approved. She was setting up her classroom last August when she was informed the offer of a position had been rescinded.

"I'm not happy with the Collier County School District," German said. "I was just an excellent teacher in Immokalee. It's not like you have people busting down the doors to teach in Immokalee."

She's completed her doctorate now in educational leadership at Nova Southeastern University and once again is teaching kindergarten, at a school in Lee County. With a husband and two children, the 42-year-old German lives in Fort. Myers.

"Somebody owes me an apology. Somebody owes me an explanation," German said of her issue with the Collier schools. Depending on what the explanation is, she leaves open the possibility that she is owed monetary damages, as well.

Despite repeated requests for comment during the past week by telephone and email, the Collier school district didn't provide comments for this story.

German's attorney, Fort Myers litigator Esmond Lewis, requested information from Collier County schools regarding her situation. That first records request was in September and has been renewed several times since, Lewis said.

"There is no reason they shouldn't have furnished those records after almost six months," Lewis said. "That first letter went out Sept. 12. Something as simple as a former employee's HR file, that's readily available. We just want straight answers as to why a Golden Apple teacher is not qualified to teach a kindergarten class."

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There might be portions of the records the district could claim are privileged, Lewis said, but that doesn't apply across the board. "I would say absolutely they are stonewalling."

German has been a teacher for 21 years, nine of them in Collier County. She began her career here, before spending five years in Nashville, Tenn., and five years in Louisville, Ky.

"There has to be a reason, and I want to know what it was. 'On whatever date, Mia German did ABC.' I don't see how it can be anything but a personal issue. There's no data, and they drive us with data," she said.

"I'm glad I was able to get a job (in Lee County), but it's the principle behind the thing," German said. "I was already hired back. I had my keys. I was setting up my room."